Firefighters battle string of suspicious fires in central Toledo

10/22/2007

Fires of suspicious origin damaged four vacant houses and a garage in central Toledo late Sunday, injuring a firefighter. One of the houses burned again early yesterday, authorities said.

A firefighter was treated at Toledo Hospital after he was hurt helping fight a blaze at a vacant house at 1216 Campbell St., which was reported at 11:04 p.m. His name was not released.

Someone threw an accelerant through a window of that house shortly before the fire was reported there, Toledo police said.

Another vacant house, at 2429 Hollywood Ave., burned twice: at 9:23 p.m. and at 1:54 a.m., a Toledo fire dispatcher said.

There was also a fire at 5:45 p.m. at a vacant house at 719 Elizabeth Street near Vance Street and another at 6:18 p.m. about 700 feet away, at a vacant house at 809 Blum St., near Ewing Street. Also, a garage fire occurred about 5:25 p.m. at 751 Blum, the dispatcher said.

When police officers arrived at 809 Blum responding to a report of a house fire, they saw several young males running from the scene, officers said.

The fires are under investigation.

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